Calling all Yamato (大和) and Musashi (武蔵) fans

[philman62]

@ asfalios: http://www.geocities.jp/yamato_model_gu ... gamura.htm (YAMATO in Eigamura, menu on the left, jpn language)

@ Mperor: yep, with very, very light grey, and then dust, dirty, dust, dirty, dust dirty

[philman62]

@ Mperor: try to apply this technique for your deck.

Three colors are all that's necessary
They are:

1. "Mud" (a model railroad weathering paint),
2. "Driftwood" (a light gray stain), and
3. "Walnut" (a brown stain.) The entire process can be boiled down to four simple steps:

1. Airbrush (or paint) the deck with Mud.
2. Streak the deck with Driftwood.
3. Streak the deck with Walnut.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 as necessary.

This method is, fortunately, very simple and very forgiving. First one must airbrush (or paint) the deck with Mud and allow it to dry at least 24 hours. In fact,
this will be the very first color painted on the entire model - the grays, blacks, and other colors come after the deck has been prepared first. Once the Mud paint has dried, select your smallest tipped brush and open the bottle of Driftwood. You then dip the brush into the stain and then wipe the tip of the brush lightly over a paper towel until only a small amount of wet stain remains in the bristles. Now use the brush to streak the stain in narrow strips lengthwise along the deck (or parallel to the planking). Use random strokes until the deck is evenly streaked over is entire surface.
When finished (the stain dries very quickly), open the Walnut stain and repeat this step. If the deck appears too dark, repeat the streaking process with the Driftwood until the deck starts to lighten up. If you want the deck to return more to the shade of the Mud paint, streak the deck with Mud in the same manner as the stain. By alternating back and forth between these three colors, you'll find you have great control over the final appearance of the model's wooden decks. And so long as you keep the stains and paint nicely thinned, there will be no visible buildup of pigment to obscure detail. And remember to keep the brush strokes about the width of a plank, or no more than two planks.

Some advantages of this technique:
A. no great artisitic skill is necessary, only the ability to apply random paint streaks in parallel lines;
B. a damaged area can easily be blended into the rest of the deck by applying more strokes in alternating colors as above;
C. the process goes quickly - your Tamiya Yamato model we'll have its deck fully painted and streaked in about an hour
(after the original Mud application had dried, of course.)

A tip: as I said before, purchase an inexpensive kit to use as your "guinea pig". Use this kit's parts to test
your technique and refine it before you move onto your main project.

Let me know.

[Mperor]

Hey Phil,

Thanks a lot for the tips.

I'll definitely experiment with them.

But you'd be surprised the skill required to paint streaks in parallel lines. I've tried that with my Yamato and it ended up looking like a grass field - except it was deck orange. Besides, the acrylic's starting to build up and smudge slightly the texture of the deck. =\

And the Tamiya model, as you know, has the superstructure and the deck in one piece, so that design makes painting the deck 10 times harder for fear of smudging it all over the superstructure and the turret barbettes.

[philman62]

Mperor, try to carefully mask the superstructure and the turret barbettes (I know it's not so easy on a complete model, but try anyway)


Last chance is to go with wood planking (it's not expensive, but more time consuming)

[philman62]

@ Mperor: for the three colors, Mud, Driftwood and Walnut, use those made by Floquil.

[Sauragnmon]

Well if you take the smoke, and maybe the woodgrain, from Vallejo, you don't have to do paralell strokes - it won't weather evenly, so don't worry about a full even coat - a little variation here and there on the overcoats will help it look more realistic. You want to take fast strokes so your coverage with the transparent layers is thin enough to leave an effect. Think of it almost like drybrushing, and yes, you might want to mask the areas around your deck levels before you set to this.

[Mperor]

Those are all very useful tips, guys.

I'll definitely give it a go one of these days...



I've attached some pictures for reference, the first picture 's deck is very similar to what I have at the moment.



The second picture depicts the deck color that I'm aiming for.



I'll go and experiment some more.


NOTE: Let me add that neither are my models. They are just reference pictures I have found.

[philman62]

I know the source of second photo: it's from a Japanese guy that built the best model I've ever seen. The problem for you is to mask the deck that way.

[Mperor]

Indeed, Phil.

I'm not too worried about the masking part. I'm worry about getting that kind of grey, lol, but it's probably doable. I just need to roll up my sleeves some of these days, and go for it!



And Phil, I think yours will end up looking as good, if not better than his!

[philman62]

I thank you, but honestly I don't think so. I like my works, but that model is very, very astonishing (with the dio also).
Maybe the deck, that you like so much, is the only part less persuasive: I prefer an homogeneous planking, like in the pristine model, with a light dirt & dust effect only on wood's splints (I don't like at all painted plastic deck).
Consider to plank your deck with wood's splints, it's better-looking and inexpensive.

[philman62]

@ Mperor: for that kind of grey look at the pic, then try to mix to obtain alternative greys.

[Mperor]

I will do that, Phil.

I like the grey because I'm trying to make it look the way she did on her last sortie. Many sources suggest she was indeed painted light grey on the deck.

Like I said, I'm not too worried about the irregular planking look. Though it just adds much more visual texture if it had different shades of grey.

[philman62]

The "famous" 'hinoki' cypress wood with a grey tint. Have a good work!

[Mperor]

Indeed.



And Phil, as I recall from Al's Nichimo...

It seemed that the out of the box version of the ship does NOT depict the Yamato in her final configuration?

Notably, she's missing 3 Triple 25mm enclosed guns on both sides. I am not sure if shes missing anything else.

Are you going to mold them yourself?

How much scratch building does that kit require? I do realize the kit was made in 1994, so... I'm not sure how accurate it really is - out of the box.



I've pondered purchasing a 1/250 Doyusha kit but was warned that it was terrible in terms of accuracy... lol Nichomo's kit seems to be the one people prefer - and it is also bigger!

[philman62]

Yep, it doesn't depict the ship in her final configuration. The missing parts are, as you said, the 3 triple 25mm enclosed guns on both sides and the triple 25mm MG platforms on gunhouse of turrets n� 2 and n� 3. Maybe I mold them myself, don't know yet (the time, the time...)

For the rest the kit is quite good, but keep in mind that it will take a lot of time to scratchbuild and fix some parts. Compared to 1/350 Tamiya is less accurate, but at the moment there is nothing better for that scale.

DON'T BUY Doyusha, go on Arij if you want 1/250 (better details and better plastic's parts)



P.S.= Don't forget about the different scale between your 1/350 Tamiya kit and the 1/200 Nichimo from the Jap dude when you'll paint the deck (the planks are with different width, and then more difficult to mask)

[Mperor]

I wasn't going to buy the Doyusha after I was warned.

The only reason I thought about it was that my local store used to carry one at a very affordable price.

But I think I should probably save up for he Nichimo instead... lol



Maybe Al can weight in on how he completed the missing parts of his Yamato? My guess is that he molded the triple 25mm himself... but I may be wrong.

[chuck]

Since late 1944, Yamato's wooden deck had been intentionally stained charcoal gray. So the elaborate efforts to reproduce wood planking patterns may be superfluous.

[amiers]

Hi to all. i have read through this thread and it is amazing the info i have found, but some is a little confusing so i would like to ask some basic questions. i am about to start a rebuild of a Tamiya 1/350 yamato, i built her many years ago before PE and my skill level was a 3 out of 10.! i would like to show her in the ten-go config so my questions are:

1. what colour to paint the deck- best match in enamal

2. apart from Lion Roar does anyone have in thier PE the extra gun tubs for the triple 25mm

3. if answer is no to the above can i buy the guns and tubs by themselves?

4. has anyone used the new Eduard PE? it seems very good. i have looked at at it on the net and it seems to have some of the extra gun tubs i will need.


thats about it for now, but im sure as i get along with the job there will be more.

[caramonraistlin]

Amiers:

If you can afford it, I'd go with the Lion Roar super set. I bought one for my Tamiya Yamato and it is very finely detailed. Also you get brass barrels for the main guns as well as a set of propellers. I know it is expensive ($120 US) but I figured the barrels bought separately would be $30 - $40 anyway and then a decent set for the rest of the details would probably run $40 - $50. It has about 11 individual pe sets plus the barrels. Actually there is so much detail it's a little scary working with it as you get afraid that you'll mess something up. At least I did.

Sincerely

Michael Lacey

[philman62]

Working on hull, forecastle plate deck and main guns (all not finished yet, a lot of work to do). Waiting for wood to continue deck planking.
See you soon.